6.5/10
This probably started out as a really cool script. The idea of a man building a huge bomb shelter and essentially kidnapping (or saving) two others to live down there with him lends itself to all sorts of interesting questions. Is he a savior, or a nutjob? Is there really something deadly aboveground, or is it all just a ruse to keep his captures from trying to escape? Unfortunately, the apparent need to shoehorn this script into a movie to kickstart "Cloverfield" as a brand name franchise gives it away up front - if there wasn't something going on aboveground, why call it a "Cloverfield movie" at all? This isn't a spoiler, just common sense that lessens the slack on an otherwise taut and extremely well-crafted first two acts.
I always get a little nervous when I can't figure out how a movie is going to end, allowing for the possibility I'm going to get blown away but fearing that I'm going to be disappointed. Unfortunately it was very much the latter here. It doesn't seem like the writers could really figure out an ending either as what we got felt goofy, unrelated to and undeserving of the solid hour and fifteen minutes that preceded it. John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were both great and there is a much better movie somewhere in here, but what we're given is ultimately a disappointment.
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